Ogallala Aquifer

Purpose:
To protect the Ogallala Aquifer and retain the economic integrity of the Southern Great Plains region. These efforts are aimed at:

• Management practices for cropping systems.
• New integrated cropping systems.
• Irrigation equipment and practices.
• Economic impacts of water management strategies and water conservation policies.
• Inventory of water in the Ogallala Aquifer.
• Education and technology transfer.
• Water saving technologies for CAFO and processing industries.

Relevance:
The projected total present value of irrigation over 60 years is $19.3 billion or $990 per acre. Agriculture irrigation accounts for nearly 90 percent of the groundwater withdrawals in many areas of the Ogallala Aquifer region. The Ogallala Aquifer in Western Kansas and the Texas High Plains is, however, declining at an unacceptable rate of 1 to 3 feet per year. To ensure the sustainability of rural communities in this region, continued investments are needed to protect the Ogallala Aquifer. If no new water management strategies are implemented, the saturated thickness of the Ogallala Aquifer will decrease by 48 percent in 60 years, resulting in a $20 billion loss to the Southern Great Plains economy.

Accomplishments/Impacts:

• Production Systems. Developed an integrated crop/livestock/forage production system that requires 23% less irrigation water over cotton monoculture systems – potentially saving Texas producers an estimated $18M in cash expenses.
• Management Practices. Demonstrated that tillage influences crop productivity and water use efficiency by as much as 25%.
• Genetic Crop Enhancement. Found genetic variations in crops with 50% variation in transpiration efficiency, meaning that within the same crop species, some varieties can produce twice as much with same amount of water.
• Irrigation Technology. Subsurface drip irrigation systems increased seed germination by 50% when used in a modified bed system and at deficit irrigation levels.
• Crop Varieties. Identified forage sorghum cultivars that have similar digestibility and yield as corn silage, but require 40% less irrigation water.
• Research Collaboration. Developed a Web site for information management and internal communication among researchers (http://ogallala.tamu.edu).
• Producer Awareness. Provided two irrigation scheduling schemes for producers that are accessible on the Internet (www.oznet.ksu.edu/mil & http://txhighplainset.tamu.edu).

Lead Agency:
USDA-ARS

Partners
Texas Tech University
Texas A&M University
Kansas State University
West Texas A&M University

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